Nothing to fear in IR bill: O'Farrell

By Adam Bennett, Stephen Johnston and Belinda Cranston

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell says public servants have nothing to fear from his bill to weaken the industrial umpire, despite unions and the opposition labelling it "worse than Work Choices".

The government has come under fire over the bill, which will give it the power to stipulate wages and conditions for public servants and remove the Industrial Relations Commission's (IRC) independence.

Opposition Leader John Robertson said the premier had "outdone John Howard" with his public sector wage reforms, which he described as "a trojan horse ... giving Barry O'Farrell unprecedented powers".

"This bill allows the premier to set wages and conditions and binds the Industrial Relations Commission to implement whatever policies the government of the day puts in place," Mr Robertson said.

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"Things like shift loading, like penalty rates, things like maternity leave and long-service leave, can all be ripped away with the stroke of a pen, and the Industrial Relations Commission will be forced to implement those decisions."

Mr O'Farrell accused the former union boss of becoming "hysterical" over the new legislation, which was introduced into the state parliament on Tuesday night.

The coalition was simply enforcing the former Labor government's wages policy to cap increases at 2.5 per cent, unless savings were found, he said.

"Public servants will be no worse off under this policy than they were under Labor's policy because it's the same policy," Mr O'Farrell said.

"Public servants will get a fair rate of pay. Public servants should have no concerns because there's been no change to any of their conditions or entitlements under this policy."

The premier defended the move to take away the IRC's independence, saying "there's no point having a government wages policy if it can be ignored".

He said the upper house could still disallow any government regulation regarding public sector pay, with the coalition's lack of a majority acting as a safeguard against excessive change.

The bill caused heated debate during question time on Wednesday, and Labor's Cherie Burton was thrown out after she repeatedly abused government MPs over the IR changes.

Unions NSW promised a "comprehensive" campaign against the planned reforms and did not rule out industrial action.

Union secretary Mark Lennon said public sector employees would be denied the opportunity to have their case determined by the IRC, a right afforded all other workers in the state.

The government had no mandate for the reforms because "they did not raise it before the election, nor have they done since they were elected", he said on Wednesday.

"Our campaign ... will be comprehensive and as the situation evolves, as we have further discussions with the government about this, we'll roll out different aspects of the campaign," Mr Lennon told reporters at NSW Parliament.

The Police Association of NSW said the bill was a betrayal of the state's officers, who would be the first to have their award negotiated under the new legislation.

"The government needs to be aware that if it pushes through with these laws it will lose the goodwill of every police officer in the state," union president Scott Weber said.

However, the NSW Business Chamber said the changes would drag the NSW public sector out of its "1970s-style time warp".